Hellhound Born (Kasadya #3) (11 page)

She looked pretty badass from where I stood. Her head turned and she caught me staring at her. I lifted my own chin, showing my own pride. A smile spread over her face and she started walking towards me. I braced myself for whatever she had in mind.

“Kas, nice to see you.” I rolled my eyes,
yeah I just bet.

“Nina, nice to see you too,” I replied dryly.

Her smile never faded. Instead, she strode around me, checking me from head to toe.

“Mm, so you are destined for great things? I just wonder if our Sire didn’t waste his time with you. I mean, come on now Kas, you know you are going to mess this up too.”

I didn’t move a muscle, afraid that at any moment I might kill her.

I felt his hand on by back, which pushed calming emotions through me.

Chax to the rescue
.

“Nina, I am honored to have such a fine warrior on our side,” Chax said, essentially putting a stop to the showdown.

“Thank you Chax. Fighting with you has always been a pleasure,” she purred in response.

Fury spiked tenfold inside me and Chax had to work hard to bring my vision back to normal.

Why is she always pushing me to kill mode?
What the hell have I ever done to her?

But no, she had to push it even further. Walking to stand just mere inches from him, she leaned towards him and whispered something in his ear. He frowned and pulled away. With that, she smiled at me and walked back to her Fallen team who waited cautiously for her return. My eyes followed her every movement, my body anxious to act against her.

“Come Kasadya, another battle awaits us.” Chax steered me away from her towards Michael and Raphael, who were talking to Vulcan and Thonyn.

“We can begin,” Chax stated when we reached them.

His hand never left my back and I started to wiggle myself out of his hold. Michael nodded and instructions were given to the other Fallen. We shifted to the same position where Max and the others waited. Chax however, did not participate in the release of the ball that would trap the demon prince. Instead, he nodded at me and walked towards the other Fallen, which were ready for battle.

In his place was Caim, who nodded at me and smiled.

“We'll watch your back, Kas. You just do your part,” he reassured me.

I turned around and pulled out my swords. I shifted to hellhound form before Luxuria's face came into view. With a quick smile, she left the square, as well as the bellowing demon prince.

“Luxuria! You traitor!” The prince yelled.

His eyes landed on me and he transformed to his demon form, saliva dripping from his fangs. I steadied myself, knowing that he would use some sort of power like moving earth or disappearing.

I just wondered what this one can do.

He stormed forward, his swords gliding through the air and I prepared my block. Red hot flames burned my face and I jumped back. Looking back at him, his body, as well as his swords, were now fully covered in flames.

Ah crap, this is going to hurt.

I stormed forward and swiped as fast as I could, trying to avoid getting near his flames. It made no impact at all.

Double crap
.

I stepped back, not knowing what to do.

“I am not that easy to kill, Hellhound. Your feeble attempts only ignite my fury even more. You are no match for me,” he taunted.

No kidding
.

He lunged towards me, the wall of flames still engulfing his body.

“Kasadya!  Your wings!” Chax yelled.

Unfortunately, it was too late. The wall of flames made contact, searing the skin on my stomach. Staggering away from him, I looked down to assess the damage. Blood was running down my side over my leathers. My face was scorched by the flames, the smell of burnt flesh stung my nose.

“Kasadya!” Chax yelled again, bringing my attention back to the demon prince.

He moved so quickly that he was already on me. I tried to protect myself from his assault, but I found myself flat on my back. Bad move. He brought his swords down towards my neck. Releasing my own to grab the flaming sword, my hands were instantly engulfed. Pain radiated from the tips of my fingers to the top of my arm.

“Now you die,” the demon prince said, drool dropping onto my face.

No freaking way!

Fury kicked in, and my
born
emerged. And,
oh boy
, was she pissed off.

I stepped back inside her mind, relinquishing control. She looked at the demon and roared, sending some drool flying back onto his face. He was startled for a second, but recomposed himself quickly, pushing the sword down again.

Wings
.

 Chax said I should use my wings. With all my strength, I ripped my wings out from under me, wrapping them around the both of us. The flames were hell to take, but just like my training session with Chax, I reversed the demon’s flames onto him.

He started screaming inside my wings, our faces mere inches from the other.

“Demon, today you will die,” I said to him. 

Pushing out with all my force, I flung him away from me. I watched as the now burning demon hit the ground and started to flail around, trying to put out the flames. I had a hard time getting up. I was losing too much blood and I wouldn’t last very long. I marched over to the prince. I raised my sword, ready to attack, when I was knocked back into the invisible net covering us both. Shaking my head, I looked back at him.

“Did you think it would be so easy to kill Irritum?” he asked, getting back on his feet.

“Yeah I did. Actually, I am going to show you,” I threw back at him, getting back up again.

For a brief moment, I almost lost my footing and fell back, but quickly pushed up. I was getting weaker; I needed to finish this soon. He lifted his hands and the air around me was sucked away.

Okay, now would be the time to start stressing.

 
I couldn’t breathe; the air around me was missing in action. I looked around, searching for Chax in the chaos.. The Fallen were having a hard time dealing with all the demons. It looked like there were two demons for each Fallen. I found Max in his hellhound form, slicing off the head of an adversary. Next to him was Nanini, throwing light bombs at the demons that were attacking them.

Chax!, I need Chax
.

My eyes searched the scene, looking for him. When my eyes found him, my heart almost stopped. He was on one knee, trying to defend himself against a whole group of demons. And he wasn’t looking good at all. Fear coursed through me as I gazed around, taking in our current predicament.

“NO!” I screamed with the little air I still had left inside of me.

Chapter 9

Something was happening; a buzzing started from my toes and worked its way upwards. As it spread, I could feel that part of me rejuvenated. When at last I felt “complete” I took whatever strength I had and let it rip. The air cocoon holding me ripped away in a blast. I could see its webbing disbursing into the air. I took in a deep breath, and without knowing what the hell I was doing, slammed my fist with all my force into the ground. The earth shook and the prince lost his footing. I moved with lightning speed, one swipe and I knew I didn't have to look back. He was toast. My fear for Chax drove me through the net and straight to the demons attacking him.

I sliced at them, the fury bubbling from my pores. Blood splashed across my face and torso. Screams sounded around me. My hellhound
born
was loose and crazed out. I attacked demon after demon, taking heads, and in some cases ripping them apart. Fallen shifted out and away from me. I could see one female's eyes filled with fear. Approaching the last group of demons, the divinity chose that moment to act, sending bolts of pain ripping through my body. My body gave out and I dropped to the ground. My eyes searched around me for Chax. There he was, a few yards from me, on the ground. Not moving.

I dragged myself towards him, wings bursting up into the air with each bolt that went through me. Nearly in reach of him, I tried to call out to him. Instead, a scream ripped from my throat as the intense energy pounded through my body, leaving me crumpled on the ground. I tasted dirt. With one last look at him, the final energy bolt sent me into darkness.

“Look, they are dying,” The voice said in the dark void.

I could see nothing as it was pitch black all around.

“Can you hear their screams?” the voice taunted.

 “I see and hear nothing!” I yelled back.

A giggle sounded to my right. It was the child again. Oh no! I knew what was about to happen.

“There, Kasadya, look there.” And with that, the darkness started to fade into white mist, revealing the same battle where we all would die. I found myself first in the battle. Strong and big, I sliced, ripped and to my utter shock, sent demons flying without even touching them. My eyes were weird too. They were a pink color. Not red or yellow, but pink.

'Why-” I was cut off by a scream.

I looked for the source and found Nanini running towards the hellhound line. Following her direction, I saw why she was in such a panic. Max laid dead, his head a few feet from his body. I looked back at her and saw the demon taking her head. She hadn’t even noticed his sword coming at her. She was fixated on reaching the slain Max. I also saw more in her eyes. I saw her love for him.

“I am trying. I will complete my divinity,” I whimpered, begging the voice for another chance.

I searched the battle and found Chax. Again, his head was taken and my hellhound roared. I could feel her pain, her loss, but what was worse than all of that, was the feeling of hopelessness.

“You will not succeed before this battle,” the child whispered back to me.

That was why I was feeling this emotion; because that is what was going to happen. We had no hope to survive this.

“There is always hope, Kasadya. You just need to look for it,” the child said again.

“Where! Where the hell should I look?!”

Tears were running down my face as Ballen approached my hellhound, who was pinned to the ground. I turned my head, unable to witness my own death again.

“Now look at the wall. What do you see?” the child asked suddenly, his voice coming from right beside me.

I jumped from surprise. I looked back, avoiding the death-laden scene, and fixed my eyes on the wall. Not just the wall, but the hole that was in the wall. From my vantage I couldn't really make out what was going on there, so I stood up and walked closer.

There, holding the hole open, were four objects. They were the blood relics. As I looked down, my face fell. Four priests lay dead inside the hole. They had His blood, and with the priests, they had His words.

So that is how they will get the wall open.

I looked between the relics and the priests, unable to find what I was supposed to find.

“I don’t-” I stopped dead.

On the other side, Luxuria stood with a grim face, watching my death taking place. Next to her was what I suspected, a demon prince; a puny, skinny demon prince. He turned towards her and said, “See sister, we told you they would not succeed.”

Luxuria did not answer him. Instead, she looked up, our eyes connecting immediately.

I'm missing something here.

“Only because you were lucky brother. They were very close to finding a way to stop you and Gluttire,” she replied, her eyes never leaving mine.

Okay, so we were close, but it could not be the divinity. It had to be something else. My eyes traveled back to the battle scene. Ballen was returning with a huge smile.

The ass just killed me!

My hellhound laid dead, her head missing. Unsure why, I took a step closer. Standing right over her, I watched my dead form. My eyes roamed over her and I caught a glimpse of something in her hand.

Bending down, I saw that it was small ball with lights flashing out of them. They weren’t the balls that were used for the net. They were something else entirely.

“Can you see?” The child whispered again.

“Come on, Kasadya.” Chax’s voice sucked me out of the dream.

It was like he reached in and grabbed me around the waist, pulling me out of it. Screaming and kicking, I tried to fight him off. I needed more time to find the solution. But it didn't work. Grasping for air, I jumped up and hit Chax across the face.

“Ouch.” I rubbed my head and saw Chax doing the same.

“Damn it Chax! I was so close!” I was livid.

His eyes flashed to me and I sucked in a breath. He had a cut running from his left eye, over his nose, and down his right cheek. Without thinking, I reached out and gently touched it.

“What happened?” I smoothed my fingers over the cut.

“You stopped breathing. We almost lost you,” Chax replied with a pained look.
We?

Only then did I notice Melissa and Maia, and behind them a room full of Archangels and Dominus Custose.

Oh crap.

They all had pained expressions, and I could only guess that I was responsible for it.

“How do you feel?” Chax asked, his eyes roaming over me.

I dropped my hand from his face when I saw the others, and now used it to pat myself. Nope. No holes, no cuts, but when I reached my stomach, I winced. Melissa's hands were immediately on me and lifted my leather top.

“Christ Kas, look at that!” she complained.

I really wanted to look but between her, Maia and the others, I couldn't.

“I have had worse and you know it,” I snapped at her.